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Strymon Timeline First Impressions

ANOTHER NEW EDIT: The newest firmware update addresses the issue of not being able to write patches via midi patch change message. The Timeline can now do this, which is huge. It also adds in some amazingly unexpected features like spillover between presets instead of just with on/off, patch naming, and optional global tap tempo.

NEW EDIT: Strymon’s first firmware update, available on their site now for free, totally fixes the bpm issue! Serious props.

EDITS: Two new videos, and new looping, midi, and mode information and nuances below each one.

MORE NEW EDITS: Ah, great. Just did a blind test between the DC and the Strymon, trying to choose the warmest as the DC. I chose what I thought to be the warmest and it was the Strymon. Then I blind-tested it with the DD20 trying to choose what I thought to be the most percussive as the DD20. Again, I chose the Strymon. lol May be keeping this thing.

Also, there have been reports of the Strymon’s modulation being thinner than the DC’s. If the knobs are in the exact same place, then yes. But the Strymon’s modulation depth seems to be more reactive with the speed knob. Try increasing the speed slightly, and it seems the modulation becomes much more like the DC’s. It’s possible that this means that the Strymon’s speed knob is calibrated to be able to get lower speeds than the DC.

Very rough playing, editing, and I’m literally filming myself touching the pedal for the first time, so I have no idea what any of the knobs or settings do. Which is painfully obvious. But…you do get to see how it sounds, how it compares to the original Timeline, the Brigadier, and the Blue Sky, and I promise that once I familiarize myself with the pedal, I’ll do much more in depth demo’s. For now:

The sound is uncannily like the original tube Timeline. Maybe…maybe slightly less warm than the original DC, but just barely.

The switches are quiet…I know that was a big point of contention after the NAMM demo’s.

There is no spillover when switching presets, unfortunately.

The tap tempo does not modulate or mute the current delayed sound.

Of course, beautiful feature set.

It’s even smaller than a DD20!

And a new video, of just some cursory looping with the Timeline. Mic’d up. I’ll comment more in a bit:

–Via midi, you can change very easily from patch to patch while still within the looper mode. Very cool!

–Overdub starts automatically when you finish the base loop. I can see how this would be cool to just continuously overdub, but it also means that you have to be careful when finishing a loop, because transient notes will be overdubbed automatically until you switch the overdub switch back off. And I find I get the most realistic-sounding loops when I keep playing for a bit after recording the base loop. I haven’t found anywhere in the manual where it states that you can switch that.

Another new video, mic’d up, of some of the more ambient modes:

–The different intervals are great!

–I didn’t think so, but being able to switch how long of a slice you want to pitch shift makes for some cool options.

–The vinyl scratch effect may actually be pretty useful.

–It doesn’t look like you can write patches via a midi program change like you could on the DC Timeline. This may make it difficult for me. I don’t want to scroll through a hundred banks to write patches…I’d rather push a button on the Midi Mate. Maybe the manual talks about this and I’m missing it?

I’m waiting for an email back from Strymon on the bpm readout, though. Now, I want to be clear, that some folks may like this feature, and thanks to Josh and the community here, there’s a workaround. However, it still may be the keep or not to keep point for me. I was waiting to mention this until the manual came out, but it has, and this is not mentioned, so I’m going to guess that other folks are noticing this, too.

EDIT: As Josh pointed out in the comments, you can set the bpm’s, and then go back into the subdivision parameter, and reset the subdivision. However, you have to set the subdivision to a different subdivision, and then come back to your current one. And on the Timeline, that’s a few steps. So we’ll see how fast I can get at doing that live.

It appears the bpm readout when using the time knobs is a function of the outputted delay tempo. Meaning, the time between actual delayed notes…not the tempo of what you are playing. For instance, if you tap in quarter notes at 75 bpm, and you’re on a dotted 8th setting, the readout says ’75 bpm’ and you are playing at 75 bpm, but the delay of course is coming out at a dotted 8th division of 75 bpm. That’s all well and good. However, if you then want to play at 76 bpm, and you change the knob to 76, now it changes the delayed output to 76 bpm between repeats…not as the tempo of the song. Meaning, you now have quarters at 76 bpm, even though you are on the dotted 8th setting. To get back to dotted 8th’s, you have to tap again, or go back into the subdivision setting (a few extra knob pushes and turns), switch off of your current subdivision, and then switch back.

This may not be a big deal to most people, but I like to set my delays prior to every gig or service. And the whole point of a bpm readout is that I can set them quickly to the tempo of the song, even if I am using subdivisions. I don’t want to have to tap them in, because it is far less accurate and more time-consuming. And even the workaround makes things a little bit slower. Add to this the fact that the Timeline does not round your tap to the nearest bpm, but gives you 10th’s of bpm’s, and it is going to be a headache setting tempo’s when you are on a subdivision mode. On the DD20, and I believe the Timefactor, when you set the bpm, it sets the bpm for what you are playing, and then you subdivide off of that. So for instance, you set it to 75 bpm, and then that’s the ‘universal tempo’, no matter what subdivision you choose. And you can change the bpm’s at will via the time knob, and still have your subdivisions off of the new tempo. Which is much more functional (at least to me) than having the knob coincide with the actual times between repeats.

Again, resetting the subdivision after setting the bpm by hand resets the computer, and Strymon may have done this on purpose, or there may be a setting I’m missing or forgetting. And some people might love this feature. But for me, I’m really, really hoping there is a fix for this, because that’s one of the functional things I love about the DD20…however, the Strymon sounds just fantastic and has an amazing set of features. Here’s the new video with the workaround placed upfront:

The actual sound of the delay is quite, quite good. (Did I mention that? hehe) I don’t think there will be any disappointments in that department!

167 thoughts on “Strymon Timeline First Impressions”

Nice to hear it through actual amp speakers and into crappy camera mics. lol. I’ll probably get one of these eventually. But not until they’re uncool. I’m way too poor right now and other gear is in front of this guy for me. I am totally happy with my El Cap and am looking for a friend for it. DD7 isn’t doing it for me any more. Might just be GAS, but I don’t know. I never know until I try.

But the thing looks and sounds great. I’m more of an analog, set it and leave it delay type guy, which is why I love the El Cap so much. I can just pick a nice setting and not have to worry about the BPMs. Of course, the minute I start playing with a click that may change, but for what I do I’m not really a tap tempo guy. So the issues with the tap and BPM readout wouldn’t be a factor for me right now. But by the time I can spring for one in a few years (sigh) it might be. So who knows.

Good video, though, Karl. Look forward to seeing you devote yourself to the layers of this thing.

According to Strymon, international dealers have to wait 30-60 days for theirs to arrive. Being an Australian, all I can say is at least I have a bit more time to save. These demo’s are certainly adding to want for one.

Sam this is my solution : http://www.borderlinx.com. They give you a US address to ship to, from which you can then forward on to your address in Australia (or other countries). By my calculations with the strong A$ it will still work out cheaper to do it that way than ordering from an Australian dealer… not to mention heaps faster. My Strymon order is still “Awaiting Shipment” but I’m hopeful I’ll have it here in Perth by the end of next week.

BPM thing is weird. Universal tempo is definitely what makes sense, since that’s what the rest of the band (eg drummer, click, music charts) will be following. I tend to use tap mostly when playing live anyway but use the bpm dial to get me in the right ballpark. Hopefully Strymon will clarify this or fix it in an update.

Video sounds great so far Karl, though I’m only about half way through.. slow net here today.

Borderline shipping was quoted about about $35 so that plus the Timeline plus shipping would have been a bit below $500. I ordered some strings and things from USA as well so my combined shipping all up was about $55. I’ll let you know when it arrives but they quote 2-8days shipping time.

Naal–I was totally not going to get it, and then when it came out, I figured it couldn’t lose its value anyway, so I may as well. haha But for the purposes you described, the Capistan sounds perfect! And ya, the lo-fi smear stuff is rad in it.

Sam–man, it seems as if a boutique builder started up in Australia, he or she could make a killing! haha I do feel bad for you guys. Baggas is in Australia, and he used some intermediate country in the States, that will then ship to Australia. You might want to check with him if that works out.

AND PSA…

Guys, I didn’t realize that I did like, 4 or 5 really pic and video intensive posts in a row (including that U2 one! hehe), and it was taking my home page a long time to load. So until those get pushed further back on the pages, I’m going to limit each page to only three posts. The posts are still there, you just have to lick on the next page links, as there are now only 3 posts per page. It’s already sped things up a ton. Thanks!

You can go into wordpress and hide the pictures under a fold. I think it’s the “insert more” tag from the toolbar. The end result is “click here to see the rest of this post.” That’s what I would do if I had a similar problem.

Karl, I was wondering the EXACT same thing about the subdivisions. I think this might be the one (and rather important) thing they missed.

I hope they can fix this. I’m sure software-wise, it must not be that hard to fix. And since Strymon really cares about what its customers want, I have some confidence they will deliver. I certainly hope so.

sounds great! it’s interesting about the bpm setting (pretty sure it will be the same for the ms output). it is probably not that important, but to Dan’s question, that is actually pretty important.

not sure if I understood you correctly, but if you say that you are already pre-setting the bpm/ms for a certain set, the subdivision should be kept on the actual presets … and it seems that using tap-tempo, the subdivision is kept. I’m sure most of us will be using tap to change when playing live. it’s an issue, though.

this might be a workaround since you are already using MIDI. you can have one setting on the controller to send the subdivision only (CC21) if you ever want to change your BPM on the fly using the knob.

Wow, I know some people may not think that is a big deal but honestly I can’t think of a situation in which I would want it to function that way. I change the BPM on my Nova Delay with the time knob all the time. Mostly when I’m recording something because where I play we don’t use a click track… yet.

I haven’t read a ton about the new Timeline so does it have update capabilities like the timefactor? Maybe it is something they can add in pretty quick and get a software update out. I’m a tech guy so I’m used to that kind of thing. Software usually sucks when it first comes out because people use it in ways the testers didn’t realize. This seems like a huge miss though. I hope it works out for you and Strymon. I think a lot of public opinion is going to start arising because of this.

Somewhere on TGP: “WHAT THE F IS STRYMON DOING?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! THE PEDAL IS SO WORTHLESS AND STUPID WITHOUT THIS FUNCTION AND I’LL NEVER GET MY MONEY BACK FOR IT BECAUSE I’M AN IDOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN TO THE TRASH IT GOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I put together an excel spreadsheet to do this and kept it on my stand when I only had an analog delay. If you have a smart phone and don’t mind scrolling you could just leave it on there and bring it up if you needed it. I thought about an iPhone app as well. I’m not sure I want to go through all the trouble though. If anyone is interested in the spreadsheet I can send it to them.

… and I was going to ask you if you’d be the first one to get a homegrown Youtube video up on the web! Saw your posts on TGP when it went on sale.

Your experience with other delays, including the original Timeline, has me waiting for a more in-depth review. Things like the ICE and Trem settings seem like ‘no brainers’ to guys like me who arent going to devote board space to a tremolo, POG, etc. I know this cant replace those pedals per se, but they are most definitely icing on the cake.

Ya, that bpm thing may be the deal-breaker for me. I emailed Strymon right away and was going to wait to post about it, but then I realized that if they wanted to fix it, they’ve already got hundreds (I’m guessing) of these going out and people are going to notice anyway. It may be an intentional feature, but for me, I’m with Josh in that I’m always changing bpm in different subdivision modes. For recording, and with at least two of the worship bands I play with, we’re on click track. So, the drummer says, ‘Hey let’s try this at 81 instead of 80,’ with the Timeline I have to tap that tempo if I want it in a subdivision.

Or, I could do the printout of what ms corresponds to what subdivision in what bpm, but that’s the whole reason I went over to the DD20′s as my main rhythmic delay instead of the original Timelime, because it was so much quicker and so much more professional to be able to dial in bpm’s in real time. So……

Don’t worry, you won’t see it on ebay for $1,000. hehe It’s a tough call, because soundwise, it’s really surprisingly close to the original, and the Tape mode is really something.

There is, but the extra step requires figuring out what milliseconds corresponds to what bpm in what subdivision. For instance, at 136 bpm with a dotted 8th subdivision, the actual time between delayed notes is 330 ms. So for a song at 136 bpm, you could preset your patch to dotted 8th so that if you needed to tap, you’d still get dotted 8ths. And then you’d set the ms to 330.

However, the place where I got those numbers? DD20. On the DD20, you set your bpm to a tempo…say 136. Then you can change subdivisions off of that ‘universal tempo.’ Then, you can actually switch over to milliseconds, cycle through the subdivisions, and see what millisecond setting each subdivision is at your current bpm. Seriously a great little pedal.

So, maybe I’ll go through each bpm on the DD20, and then right everything down? Surely there’s a fix for this from Strymon or I’m an idiot and just not seeing a setting. haha

So, I’m a huge geek when it comes to stuff like this and I just read the manual even though I don’t have one and don’t really plan on having one for a long time but…

Have you tried dialing in a BPM and then using the Value knob to set the division again? I’m wondering if maybe that would reset how the computer is interpreting the clock value. If you can tap in a tempo and then change the value say from quarter to .8th I would expect it to change to .8th delays once that parameter is changed. If that is the case maybe you can dial in the tempo and then change the sub division to get what you are looking for.

That’s an annoying step to have to take if it works but if you are setting it anyway maybe that will work?

Yes, that works, however…it’s a few too many extra steps for me on the fly. Because I have to dial in the new bpm, then push the parameter knob, then dial over to subdivision, push the parameter knob, switch the parameter knob off of dotted 8th, switch it back to dotted 8th, and then exit out with the encoder switch.

That’s kind of what I was thinking, it shouldn’t be that hard… At least that would work for programming a Sunday morning set. Even if it takes you an extra couple minutes. You just need to get a click track that sends a MIDI click and hook it up to your Timeline!

the DD20 is quite wonderful…but I find myself wanting to simplify my rig to something I can carry on with my on an airplane or something. Trying to keep everything on a PT-1. I was hoping to get a Timeline, but I had to put my daughters to bed, and alas, I missed it by 10 minutes! Oh well. Hopefully I can get on the next run…OR find someone who isn’t keeping theirs (HINT HINT).

I like the idea of the 200 presets as opposed to the 5 on the DD20, especially because I find myself using 2 different delays per song at different times, which makes the TL quite appealing. Anyway, now I’m just rambling I think.

Matt–no, it doesn’t. But, it does have really good smeary analog and tape settings. If you check the blind test video I did with the DD20 and the original Timeline, you can hear how good it sounds. That link is somewhere in the sidebar, or use the search engine which WordPress just finally optimized!

Alan–ah, bummer about the Timeline! You know, it’s funny, but I logged on and bought one at 4:05 PT, just moreso because I was at a coffee shop and online. But I totally figured they’d be around for a few days. Nope! Yikes, it’s crazy.

And I like the 200 presets, too. Right now I have two DD20′s for 10 presets, but still. Only thing is, the DD20 does spillover when you go one preset over, which the Timeline, it appears, does not. But, on the DD20, you do have to cycle. I fear that the ‘perfect’ delay may never be made. haha

Going to replace my DD20 with a Timeline as well. I will likely keep my Echo Park though. I modded it for an external tap that I built, and so I’m used to tapping things in anyway from a single tap. I only look at the DD20 BPM count to see how far “off” the team is. We don’t play with a click track, and even if I try to bring everyone back to a songs given tempo, we are always 2-5 BPM off (on a good day :)). Hearing all of the cool sounds that the Timeline brings has made me glad I didn’t spring for a timefactor. A used DD20 is just a bargain. Period.

Have you managed to get the new Timeline working with your MidiMate? Would you mind posting a tutorial on how to do it?

I’m also wondering why nobody has ever reviewed or hyped the Line 6 M9 as a delay/looper unit. It let’s you have THREE different delays running at the same! JHV3 is also offering a wicked upgrade for it that bumps the audio quality way up.

Karl, you are a nut!!! I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the whole dotted 8th tempo change… I do agree though that the DD20 is so stinkin great for the fact that it does keep everything relative to the BPM. I used to have one, but sold it to fund the TimeLine. So far, I think it is def worth it. BTW, I seriously was shocked at how quickly they went as I too thought a few days. Also, I swear that I was the first one to buy… LOL, it was crazy!! My wife was laughing at me because I literally timed myself at how fast it took me from clicking ‘Buy Now’ to confirming payment thru my PayPal… Haha, I am a nut! Anyways, take care and keep posting stuff that we keep missing.

and thru reading the manual, I don’t see any mention of it. it doesn’t even have a sysex dump option … i hope there is a special sequence to enable this. i didn’t particularly liked it when I had to return my old Brig back to them for the v2 update ’cause I was foolish enough to get into the first batch. and you would think that I should have learned my lesson for the Timeline … major facepalm for me once again if an update is issued but can’t be done by users! LOL

Thanks for the BPM explanation video Karl. It makes the problem really clear. And no point mincing words this is a definite bug – I can’t imagine any circumstance where anyone would find the reversion to quarter notes thing useful. Not a deal breaker for me as I’m a tapper, but still annoying.

You seem to be the only one who has noticed it thus far though.. haven’t seen much mention of this on TGP.

Ya, it’s a bit of a thing for me. I might just use the workaround for now. I think people may notice it eventually…it’s just not something you first look for when you open the pedal and want to have fun with the ice mode. haha It’s just that I’m crazy about tempo and beats per minute. haha

And thanks for the kind words on the vid! Ya, that’s the Timeline on mostly the dTape mode. Really cool, spongy, and interesting sound that I might not have thought of myself. Killer pedal, for sure.

On the midi thing, I actually sold both my Midi Mate’s, and have been using my current Timeline with a Midi Mouse. I’ll post a tutorial as soon as I get a bigger midi controller (and sell off some pedals…haha).

Might be worth it. To get full preset capability, you’d need to add in a midi switcher too though. And it doesn’t have the bpm readout of the DD20. Does sound great, though! Better reverse and multitap features than the DD20.

If you prefer the Strymon Timeline over the Damage Control one, would you sell it to me? I’ve been wanting one of these for over 4 months, and I haven’t bought a delay pedal because the DCT is my favorite. Whaddya say?

Hey Karl, I’ve heard that when scrolling thru presets, the tapped in tempo is not global. They default to the tempo that the preset was saved at. Is this true…if so that is a major drawback for me..otherwise this thing is the best

Beau–hmm, maybe! I’ll let you know if I end up keeping the Timeline. I’ll let you know!

Spencer–actually, I’m probably never gonna sell that DC. One, because nothing, even the new one, sounds exactly like it…especially its multitap and reverse settings. And two, the main reason, is that it’s been put through its paces over the years and doesn’t work quite right. I work around it, but I don’t think anyone would want it. haha

TJ–yes, that is true. The original is like that also. It’s fine for me, but I can totally see how for some people that’d be a deal-breaker.

Well it’s good to know that you’ll never part with it because I FINALLY got my hands on one from TGP I figured with the whole Strymon Timeline thing, everybody would sell their old one to upgrade. I have been trying to get one of these ever since they were discontinued. AND THAT DAY HAS COME

Spencer–the problem with the Midi Mouse is the scrolling…it can take forever, especially if you’re trying to play something at the same time. haha It’s fine for just a few presets, like I do with the DC Timeline, but if start to go really preset heavy, it can get annoying.

Brandon–I haven’t watched it yet…is it me? lol Sounds like it could be…

On a totally unrelated note: What cables do you use? I’m looking for pretty much the best out there and they would need to be in custom lengths. I currently use Monster 500 performer (which I like) for my long ones and then the cheap live wire patch cables that guitar center sells…which I’m pretty sure are really crappy. Any suggestions?

Check out Matt Solomon at clearsoundmusic@gmail.com . I use him for all my cables now, and I ask him to use Evidence Audio. I’ve gone off Lava a bit because of reliance, and the Evidence Audio’s sound great and I’ve never had a single problem.

Ya, the bpm thing is a bit weird, but it does have spillover when turning off…just not between presets. I’m still up in the air over the sound after trying it out live tonight. It does have some new features that I don’t know of any other delays having, which is really cool.

New video on the ice mode and some of the other more ambient features uploading as we speak.

Josh–I know…it might be worth keeping even just for this random ambient stuff. Because I’m just not sure we can get it anywhere else! Maybe a reverse delay fed into the Blue Sky and a PS5? haha Strymon did good.

Steve–thanks! Great to have you here, and stoked for future worship and tone discussions!

Sorry if this was already indicated…
Apparently to do the reverse and half speed mode, you have to program a midi controller for that??? If so, lame as I’m super intimidated by midi, and feel like I’d lose my mind… I’d rather take all my college exams cold turkey again than midi!

apparently I am not obsessed enought. I thought I had been keeping a close eye on the release of the timeline but I’m only just seeing this now. I feel so ashamed….
Glad to hear that it is a great pedal. If i can sell my memory lane v1 on ebay then I will get one (although it will probably be the seventh batch by the time I find one in stock!)

Dan–ah, it’s so hard to tell. I moved between the DC, Strymon, and DD20 this weekend, and honestly had a hard time telling the difference. So did guitarists and others who were listening. No surprise really, I suppose…so I guess it just comes down to feature set, especially when using these live.

Modulation sounded fine to me.

Elliot–yep, midi only for those features. Midi’s intimidating to me too, but it’s kind of fun to mess around with at the same time.

Scott–yes!!! Who cares about the Timeline…my day has been made that someone mentioned the reference.

Mark Colvin–I’d tell you that if I end up not keeping mine, I’d sell it to you, but I’ve already managed to promise that to like, 10 people. lol

That might be the feature that really gets me to buy a timeline. As much as the DD-20 and Nova Delay tone knobs help with ‘smearing’ the attack nothing can do it quite like the timeline. I love that sound.

Mines here!!!! Its so tiny, its replacing an m9, and now i have more room on my board for an extra overdrive or something. Going to get this sucker programmed to use at work tomorrow, and we shall see.

Josh–totally! Only thing is that not all modes have smear. I do wish smear was a set outboard knob on this thing.

Jody–lol Good form, sir.

Elliot–right on, bro!!

Also, to everyone, I just blind-tested the DC Timeline, Strymon Timeline, and DD20. Lo and behold, it seems I chose both the warmest and the most percussive sound, thinking it to be the DC for the warmest and the DD20 for the most percussive. It was the Strymon both times. Stupid unbiased hearing things without my eyes.

Wow $449 new? I’m impressed! That’s less that Memory Lanes and the same price as Superdelays but like a bajillion times the features. How do you get one new? And how does this compare to the Timefactor in your opinion, because I’m interested in both.

Rhoy–haha yep…I think I actually may be at a point where I blind test every piece of gear. More to come!

Logan–Strymon’s currently sold out, but supposedly they’re working on another batch to hopefully be out in a few weeks. In my humble opinion, the Timefactor still has a better user interface and better usability. But the Timeline has sounds the Timefactor doesn’t have, keeps the dry path analog, and in my own personal opinion, sounds better.

Sorry for hijacking this post but I thought I would put in my two cents on the TImefactor. I never thought I would go for one cause I dont like the idea of not having a dry analog path but after being outbid about 3 different times on the DC TL and not getting the first batch of Strymon TL, I went for one. The first time I played it I thought I was going to sell it the next day, but after spending some quality time with it, I actually love it. There are some suprisingly warm settings to be found in there. An aux switch is a must tho. Got a Digitech FS300 for about $20. I would recommend it

No problem. The Midi Exchange would be great with it, I imagine. Make sure you spend some time messing with the Tape Echo. It’s very good to my ears. Put the wow at about 3 or 4 and cut the flutter. Mmm…mmmm…. Good!

I got mine yesterday, and I am definitely keeping it. I would keep it if it only had the digital machine, but it also has dTape and dBucket. It also has a ton of other crazy stuff in it that I may or may not ever use. I love this thing.

I’m wondering if anyone can lend a helping hand with my MIDI situation….

When I had a DC Timeline, I would reserve bank 1 of my Rocktron Midi Mate for all my delay settings that I was using that Sunday. They’d all be dialed in to the exact tempo – beautiful.

I’d name all the presets by song title and put a copy of each preset in banks 2 and up. This was easy to do – I just had to push the “Save” button on the DC Timeline and then I had 5 seconds to push any preset button on the Midi Mate and it would save to that location.

This meant that I only had to create a preset for a song once and on most Sundays, all I had to do was copy the presets for the songs I was doing into bank 1. Again – beautiful.

With the Strymon Timeline, there’s a problem. When I push the “Save” button, it won’t let me push any button on the Midi Mate. It simply activates that preset.

Hey Jeff, it’s the same for me. Kind of a bummer…it seems the Strymon Timeline does not write patches via midi channel 1 messages.

Which means, if we want to write a patch to say, 85, we have to scroll via the Timeline itself, and remember that ’85′ corresponds to what…bank 43 patch A? Ya, not completely thrilled about that either.

Rhoy – I’ve got an email on the way to Strymon but I guess I already know the answer. MY follow up question to them will be, “Is there any chance this and the BPM issue can/will be changed via an update patch?”

So, essentially if you adjust a preset, say preset 5, and want to save it to preset 85, you can’t? Or, you can’t adjust preset 5 and when you want to save it hit the button for preset 85 on your midi controller?

When you run this out, it becomes almost impossible to keep track of! Because you can only save on the Timeline and not on the MIDI Mate, you have to figure out (for example) what Bank 3 Preset 5 comes out to on your Timeline and save it to that location.

Ah, I see. I know it doesn’t seem like a great solution but is there a way to limit the MIDI Mate to 8? At least then the math is a little easier…

I can see how that would be hard to keep track of. I would probably put together some kind of cheat sheet to connect the Timeline banks to the MIDI mate banks for saving purposes. Then I would just base my patch selection on the MIDI mate instead of the Timeline. Just my 2 cents…

Josh – that’s what I had to do when I had my TimeFactor (use just the first bank). I worked with 9 presets (e.g. picking, lead, swell, etc.) but the bummer was not having the tempo pre-assigned perfectly.

Thanks for the suggestion – having to use a cheat sheet is what makes this such a bummer! It was so easy with the DC Timeline…

Okay, waiting for mine to come in about a month, but just reading the manual and the way you can save your patches, can anyone give this a go with a MidiMate?

If you use the second method they suggest on Page 6, you turn the value encoder to any random patch, only instead of pressing the buttons on the Timeline to save, how about pressing your desired button on the Midimate?

Just a thought, but if the Timeline is providing data to itself here, knowing it is saving a patch, this might work; can someone please try it at least so we can write it off as a non-starter if it doesn’t work?

Ya, this isn’t looking great to be sure. It sounds good enough to where I’ll deal with it, but I hope an update for this and the bpm is/will be available.

Also, Daraithe, great thought on changing the value encoder and then pushing midi, but I just tried it, and nothing. When the Timeline is in save mode, apparently the midi signals mean nothing to it, and when changing the value encoder to a random patch.

And the 25,000th comment?! Congratulations!

Although I can’t imagine that many comments here…maybe it’s counting spam comments too or something. haha

AAAARGH!!! I am so gutted! I really thought that would work! Oh well, back to head-scratching… gotta love technology!

Strymon seem to have an FAQ up at the moment for Timeline; guess they have been getting a ton of questions thrown at them! Apparently, Timeline is upgradeable through MIDI Sysex, so all is not lost… yet!

Hey where’s the FAQ? Can you give us a link.
Couldn’t see it on the Timeline page or the Strymon blog.

My Timeline is now on it’s journey to Australia (along with a Strymon T shirt and a big supply of strings and blue Herdim picks)

In preparation for the new arrival I’m pleased to say I have finally bitten the bullet and made an even more important upgrade to my tone – I’ve gone tube baby!
Always thought I couldn’t afford to get a tube amp but I realised if I sell all the big SS amps I’ve got (Marshall, Peavey, Crate) I can easily afford one. So I’m now the proud owner of a Vox AC15C1 – awesome little amp. Heaps of volume – beautiful clean chimey sound. Makes all my pedals sound better. Glad I got it a few days before the Timeline so I have some time to enjoy the amp tone before I get lost in the Timeline sound.

btw, got my timeline today and got to give it a try for about 2 hours. played with the digital mode (played it side by side with ML Jr and it is very very close on certain settings) … the looper is great!

it is defnitely a cool piece of gear but I’m still on the fence whether it’s worth the $450 cool

I was reading through the Globals Menu in the manual (how sad; don’t even have mine yet and I am reading the manual!), and apparently, you can set MIDI patch changes on or off: Which is the default? Also, forgive my ignorance when it comes to some elements of MIDI, but would the CC parameters have anything to do with it?

Cool! Good stuff on the FAQ’s! And Daraithe, all midi defaults are set to ‘on’, I believe. The midi patch change doesn’t change the writing capabilities via midi. I think we may be sunk here on this one until a hopeful update.

Fortunately I have the newer Vox Custom AC15 instead of the older Custom Classic (CC) which I believe incorporates some of the mods people were doing on the CCs. I find I can easily control the level of brightness with the Tone Cut knob which is fantastic, so no plans to do any mods just yet…. although I might try swapping out the tubes at some point.
Unbelievable how much better all my pedals sound through this thing!

Karl – any more thoughts on the Timeline now that you’ve been using it live? I’ve only spent a few hours with it (got here on Mon) so I’m still in the healthy skepticism phase of owning it. You know how some pedals, when you turn them on, you’re going to play something new every time and it puts a smile on your face? Not there yet with the Timeline. dtape for me doesn’t have the low end/thick low mids of the Skreddy Echo. Digital machine delay like the DC Timeline still sounds more “present” than the tape echo on the M13. Not sure if this is the same as what you call weightiness. dtape surprisingly is not as big of a difference in how present it sounds. Played around with the vinyl settings (6 or 8 filter setting) with almost no delay (2ms as low as it goes). Pretty cool with a tremolo pedal in front of it but not as cool as I thought it was going to be. File under: sounds for worship songs with a guitar that sounds like an AM radio.

Brian–gotcha!! Is it big that I’m keeping both the Brig and the Timeline? Yes. It is. haha

Dan–man, I was the exact same way for the first couple weeks. It took me two weeks to put velcro on it, and I still haven’t taken the protective plastic off the display. haha Just in case I need to sell it.

What really sold me was sticking it in a true bypass loop and then blind-testing it with the DC, DD20, Brig, etc. (I literally set all the pedals to sound as close as possible to one thing in my mind, like a really warm dotted 8th, and then shut my eyes and push two of the bypass loops until I forget which is on and which is off. lol) I almost feel like my mind was telling me the Timeline didn’t sound great because, let’s face it, it’s very lightweight and kind of looks like you’re playing Pro Tools in a pedal enclosure. But when I just listened in the blind tests, thinking I was hearing the other pedals, it suddenly came alive for me.

Also live, it has that exact same wonderful quality as the DC and the Brig…it cuts through the mix and adds to the overall sound, while still somehow not screaming ‘Delay! Delay!’ haha

I’ve also found the knobs to be incredibly sensitive to dialing in good stuff.

So with my timeline on it’s way. Am I the only bassist showing Strymon love??

Would love to hear opinions/experience on bass as an ambient instrument. Been using some swells with bass through a long delay and bluesky mod reverb to great effect. Simple repetitive lines then putting some gentle fuzz for some cello lines.

The midi controller question is something I’ve been researching. Deciding between the peak controller and the liquid foot jr.

Shawn – I went with the liquid foot jr. because I got a good deal on a used one. If you don’t need patch naming or more than 4 presets you can instantly access, the peak should be good. The liquid foot jr. can do 8 presets per bank vs 4 presets per bank on the peak controller.

Karl – “like playing pro tools in a pedal” – so true! Someone on HCFX said that the Timeline was a gateway drug to rack gear. It’s pretty amazing that the ice can do a lot of the Axe-Fx pitch shifted delay sounds for a fraction of the cost. A guy had written a Axe-Fx patch last year to do a scratchy record sound. I was really impressed when I heard the sample mp3. Now the Timeline can nail that sound too.

It’s really easy to set up. Just plug and play, as long as the Midi channels are set to ’1′ on the Rocktron.

The bad thing about the new Timeline is you can’t save patches via midi. So you have to figure out what patch number on the Timeline corresponds to what patch number on the Midi Mate, and then save them on the Timeline, but recall them on the Midi Mate. Hoping they fix that in an update soon.

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